21 rebel Cong MLAS join BJP, may fight bypolls
MP TUSSLE The BJP legislature party likely to meet on March 23 to choose its leader
nNEW DELHI/BHOPAL: All but one of the 22 lawmakers of the Congress party in Madhya Pradesh who resigned, causing the fall of the Kamal Nath-led government, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday in Delhi in the presence of party president JP Nadda, and Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Dharmendra Pradhan.
Also present was Jyotiraditya Scindia, whose departure from the Congress precipitated the crisis; the 22 former lawmakers are his associates and followers.
The former MLAS who arrived in the national capital from Bengaluru are expected to be the party candidates for bypolls that will be conducted in the state, according to some BJP leaders.
The bypolls have been necessitated by their resignations.
On Friday, Nath resigned as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, hours ahead of a scheduled floor test that he looked set to lose.
The resignations of six of the former MLAS who were ministers was accepted by the speaker of the state assembly NP Prajapati on March 14, while those of the remaining 16 was accepted by the speaker on the intervening night of March 19 and 20, hardly 12 hours before the state assembly was to be reconvened to conduct a floor test in compliance with a judgment of the Supreme Court .
As many as 19 of these leaders tendered their resignation as MLAS to the speaker Prajapati on March 10, when former Union minister Scindia resigned from the Congress.
All 22 leaders blamed the Nath government for failing to meet the promises made to people and said announcements of farm loan
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21 former Congress MLAS joined the BJP on Saturday impressed by ideology and policies of the BJP. The party welcomes them.
RAJNEESH AGRAWAL,
State BJP spokesperson
waivers were also not fulfilled.
Even as the Congress blamed the BJP for engineering the defection, the BJP said Congress MLAS were disillusioned with the party leadership and the government’s functioning in the state.
State BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, “21 former Congress MLAS joined the BJP on Saturday impressed by ideology and policies of the BJP. The party welcomes them.”
The six former ministers among the 22 former MLAS include Tulsi Silavat, Pradyumn Singh Tomar, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Imrati Devi, Govind Singh Rajput and Prabhuram Chaudhary.
The 16 former MLAS include Brijendra Singh Yadav, Raghuraj Singh Kansana, Jasmant Jatav, Suresh Dhakad, Jajpal Singh Jajji, Munna Lal Goyal, Girraj Dandotiya, OPS Bhadoriya, Raksha Santaram Saroniya, Kamlesh Jatav, Ranveer Jatav and Aindal Singh Kansana, all from Gwalior-chambal region and Bisahulal Singh, Manoj Chaudhary and Hardeep Singh Dung.
Dhakad was the only one not present in Delhi Saturday.
State BJP spokesperson Agrawal said, “Suresh Dhakad was away due to some unavoidable circumstances. He would join BJP later.”
Meanwhile, the BJP legislature party in Madhya Pradesh is expected to meet on March 23 to decide on its leader and stake its claim to form the new government in Madhya Pradesh.
A senior state BJP leader who asked not to be named said: “Since Sunday is to be observed as a ‘janta curfew’ on an appeal from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the meeting of the BJP legislature party is expected to be held on Monday. However, there is no formal intimation about this yet.”
On Saturday, a second senior party leader said in Delhi that the local unit will now focus on preparation for the by-poll.
There have been reports that a section of leaders in the party want a new face as the CM instead of giving Shivraj Singh Chauhan a fourth term. Senior BJP leaders, however, indicated that Chauhan will be the unanimous choice.